Start running to enhance your brain power!Disorders Care

A recent study suggests, moderate exercise, such as running helps in remembering what you learned. Students should do moderate exercise rather than taking part in a passive activity such as playing computer games if they want to make sure they remember what they learned.

The study was conducted by the researchers from the University of Applied Sciences, Upper Austria. Lead author Harald Kindermann said that, “I had kids in an age where computer games started to be of high interest. I wanted to find out how this and hence the increasing lack of exercise in fresh air impacts their ability to memorize facts for school.”

According to the study, researcher and his colleagues asked 60 men aged 16-29 to memorise a range of information, from learning a route on a city map to memorising German-Turkish word pairs. They were then split into three groups: one group played a violent computer game, Counter Strike, one went for a run and one (the control group) spent time outside.

The researchers compared how well the people in each group remembered the information they were given. The results showed that the runners performed best, remembering more after the run than before. Those in the control group fared slightly worse, and the memories of people who played the game were significantly impaired.

Kindermann added, “Our data demonstrates that playing a video game is not helpful for improving learning effects.” “Instead it is advisable for youngsters, and most probably for adults too, to do moderate exercise after a learning cycle.”